THIS DRIFTING WORLD

We know only this:  life is warm.

          Adam Zagajewski

1.  Metaphors & Possibilities

Let me show you

one small piece

of this drifting world

where Charon

trolls for souls

and Hermes

shifts

in the mirror

behind me.

Where nothing happens

          that hasn’t

Then & Now.

This long winter

and dark spring

I’ve found myself

begging

ancient Hades

to let the Girl

come home.

I’ve let the drifting world

drift

into my own,

watching

Zeus and Demeter

Heroes and Nymphs

and…

2.     The Girl

Kore

her smile.

Persephone

cloud reader

keeper of secrets

innocent and experienced

maiden and mother both.

Persephone

dark

quiet

desirable

3.     The Abduction

Hades could stand

   poised

on a passing moment,

   or flash

like his brother’s lightning.

His breath

could be sweet,

or it could be

wet ash.

Likewise his touch,

moonlight, or

fire.

Hades

The younger brother.

His domain is

all that follows this

life of ours,

which is to say –

nothing.

On this day,

in the world above,

the Girl

stands apart.

Her friends play

at making flowers grow.

She wills life

into narcissus

kneels

and reaches out

to its ruffled cup

and lemon blush.

Hades,

the incorporeal

touches her back,

“Take the flower,” he says.

She  hears,

but no sound

disturbs the air.

She hesitates,

and feels a wave of insistence.

“Take the flower.”

She touches the blossom

and a sky full of stars opens

beneath her hand.

She turns to look

at the snatcher of souls

and gasps at the

emptiness.

He darkens his breath

eclipses the sun

and they’re gone.

It was as if he dissolved,

but she was torn apart.

He felt no struggle,

but she scratched

and clawed.

There was no sound,

though she screamed.

Then

bone-cracking

cold

and then

  

nothing.

4.    The Mother

Demeter

original earth mother

straddling life

with

splayed feet

barrel legs

broad hips

big breasts

and

tangled dreads.

Demeter

original

full moon boogie gal

swaying

like tall grass,

no, not grass,

swaying

like a forest.

Demeter

whose barrel legs

squeezed the breath

out of Zeus

as he rode her broad hips

like an earthquake rides an prairie.

And, oh, how she shook him

and shook him loose

it was no surprise

he took their daughter next –

like some dessert course,

then passed her on

to his anxious brother.

Demeter

who loved Persephone

like earth loves sky

didn’t know that deal

was about to go down.

On that day

Demeter

thrashed

when darkness came

and her daughter did not.

Demeter

bellowed

when morning came

and her daughter did not.

Demeter

wept full boulders

when the nymphs came

and her daughter did not

and as she listened to their story of

dark horses and owls

rising wind and sudden night

her breath turned to ice.

She cursed Zeus

and

the ground cracked

like an ancient amphora.

Winter spread like spilled wine

and time stopped

as anger and loss

froze the earth.

Demeter -

as the nymphs

fell asleep

they heard

rock

crack

against

rock.

5.    Hades, the Place

Some things you may know:

It’s where the sullen god makes his home.

The dog is there, as is the boatman. 

There are rivers.

In other ways you’ve been misinformed.

There’s no punishment, only death.

There are neither little devils with horns and tails poking and prodding,

nor big-shot philosopher devils.

No one is reigning rather than serving.

No congress is plotting the ruin of creation.

The place is:

A landscape of negatives,

of half-light, and the gray scale.

Bone-cracking cold.

Shades gliding

in perpetual motion

across huge distances

but not a breeze

to be felt.

Infinite and dull.

Only the Girl has substance.

6.    The Palace

The Dark Lord

had mastered

a pallet of smoke

and brushed a drifting world

onto the thin air of his kingdom.

He prepared a place

that seemed.

Persephone saw her palace

floating

in half light

beside Lethe’s pond

its walls shaded

by Aspen and black poplar.

She walked

the conjured adamantine

of obsidian paths

past onyx pillars

and climbed steps

of darkest marble

to the twin thrones

Evening and Dusk.

Hades and the Girl

watched rich galaxies

drift past windows

filigreed with gold

and then retired

to a room called

Deepest Night.

Persephone

entranced

allowed

the Dark Lord

and then

slept.

He rose

and walked

through smoke

swirling

around his feet.

He knew

she would be missed,

and wondered how

he would keep her.

7.  The Little Ice Age

(1300-1850 AD)

Volcanoes erupted with such force, and threw so much ash into the air, the sun and moon were shadowed for years.

The Alpine “Le Bois Glacier” advanced at 360 feet a day – even in August.  A Catholic Bishop exorcised the glacier to no effect.

Ice engulfed entire villages.

A parasite came to life under the snow and infected the wheat crop.  There was no wheat for years to come.  Bread was made from tree bark.  There were bread riots in the cities.

Wolves roamed the tundra bringing down any blood warmth they came across.

Painters developed a new genre of frozen scenes. Rembrandt, and Breughl were practitioners.

Ground in Southern England was frozen to over 3 feet in depth.

Thousands of witches were burned in Germany, England, and France.

Mary Shelley wrote, “Frankenstein.” 

7.    The Emissary

Things go wrong

and every family

needs a fixer,

even in the hidden world,

perhaps,

especially,

in the hidden world.

Hermes

shifts

like light

here and there

as much an echo

as a presence.

Hermes

Deceiver and Dissembler

Counselor to the Counselors

Guardian of the Crossroads

Companion of the Dead

pays the boatman

and torments the dog

by shifting

in and out of view

until each of its heads

lunge

in a different direction

and it stands

tail high

three mouths snarling

straining against itself

frozen in place.

Even the boatman

who has seen everything

and laughs at nothing

is amused.

Hermes winks

and goes about the business

Zeus has ordained.

The Prince of Thieves

also the Master of Dreams

what better place

to spin illusion

than the flat lands

where a dream

can hold as much

substance

as a palace.

8.    Night

Hades sleeps.

In his dream

he and the Girl

take their places

hand in hand

while the shades

bow

before their sovereigns

and feast

on dark fruit.

Hermes

in his minstrel guise

plays his lyre

unwinds a song

of cold restrained

darkness lifted

and blessed light.

For the first time

the dark kingdom

is warm

and ancient Hades’

rest

has depth.

Persephone sleeps.

In her dream

she sits

with

Hermes

in his craftsman’s guise

and watches as he

uses his thumbnail

to carve her likeness

into a hard-shelled pomegranate.

He offers it to her.

As she cups her hands

to receive the gift

three

moist

seeds

hover and shine

before her.

She snatches them

each

from air

and eats.

When they awaken

Hades stands in the bone-cracking cold

and for the first time

shivers.

When they awaken

the boatman has been paid

and the Girl

wondering at the strange taste

on her tongue

lifts her trailing hand from the river

and touches

her lips.

9.     The Return

Early Spring.

Dalliance complete

seeds eaten

she  returns

like a ripple of silk.

A breeze

the size of

   nothing

wraps around itself

a crocus

opens its

infant mouth         

and sighs.

Her virgin friends

awaken and

touch each others

eyes and faces

   and   w  h  i  s  p  e  r

she       is      here…

Demeter smiles,

the earth warms.

10.  The Gathering

In Seattle,

God’s beautiful rain body

covers us over,

and our home

is a boat

afloat

on a sea of grass

and flowers.

Lavatera

sprays up

against our kitchen window.

Dahlias bob

in the breeze.

Squash

blossoms

into starfish.

And day lilies

buoy and beacon

against the back fence.

In this ocean

of planted motion

myths rise.

Wonder

is luminous.

And the story

gathers itself

for the re-telling.

Richard Wells

May, 2008

snow crocus by robert gibson
narcissus photo from wag magazine